Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Justinian II." to "Kells" Volume 15, Slice 6
Part 21
The stomach is large and very complex, its walls being puckered by longitudinal muscular bands into a number of folds. The alimentary canal is long, and the caecum well developed. The young (which, as in other marsupials, leave the uterus in an extremely small and imperfect condition) are placed in the pouch as soon as they are born; and to this they resort temporarily for shelter for some time after they are able to run, jump and feed upon the herbage which forms the nourishment of the parent. During the early period of their sojourn in the pouch, the blind, naked, helpless young creatures (which in the great kangaroo scarcely exceed an inch in length) are attached by their mouths to the nipple of the mother, and are fed by milk injected into their stomach by the contraction of the muscle covering the mammary gland. In this stage of existence the elongated upper part of the larynx projects into the posterior nares, and so maintains a free communication between the lungs and the external surface, independently of the mouth and gullet, thus averting danger of suffocation while the milk is passing down the gullet.
Kangaroos are vegetable-feeders, browsing on grass and various kinds of herbage, but the smaller species also eat roots. They are naturally timid and inoffensive, but the larger kinds when hard pressed will turn and defend themselves, sometimes killing a dog by grasping it in their fore-paws, and inflicting terrible wounds with the sharp claws of their powerful hind-legs, supporting themselves meanwhile upon the tail. The majority are inhabitants of Australia and Tasmania, forming one of the most prominent and characteristic features of the fauna of these lands, and performing the part of the deer and antelopes of other parts of the world. They were important sources of food-supply to the natives, and are hunted by the colonists, both for sport and on account of the damage they do in consuming grass required for cattle and sheep. A few species are found in New Guinea, and the adjacent islands, which belong, in the zoological sense, to the Australian province, beyond the bounds of which none occurs.
The more typical representatives of the group constitute the sub-family _Macropodinae_, in which the cutting-edges of the upper incisors are nearly level, or the first pair but slightly longer than the others (fig. 3). The canines are rudimentary and often wanting. The molars are usually not longer (from before backwards) than the anterior premolars, and less compressed than in the next section. The crowns of the molars have two prominent transverse ridges. The fore-limbs are small with subequal toes, armed with strong, moderately long, curved claws. Hind-limbs very long and strongly made. Head small, with more or less elongated muzzle. Ears generally rather long and ovate.
The typical genus _Macropus_, in which the muzzle is generally naked, the ears large, the fur on the nape of the neck usually directed backwards, the claw of the fourth hind-toe very large, and the tail stout and tapering, includes a large number of species. Among these, the great grey kangaroo (_M. giganteus_, fig. 1) deserves special mention on account of having been discovered during Captain Cook's first voyage in 1770. The great red kangaroo (_M. rufus_) is about the same size, while other large species are _M. antilopinus_ and _M. robustus_. The larger wallabies, or brush-kangaroos, such as the red-necked wallaby (_M. ruficollis_) constitute a group of smaller-sized species; while the smaller wallabies, such as the filander (q.v.) (_M. muelleri_) and _M. thetidis_, constitute yet another section. The genus ranges from the eastern Austro-Malay islands to New Guinea.
Nearly allied are the rock-wallabies of Australia and Tasmania, constituting the genus _Petrogale_, chiefly distinguished by the thinner tail being more densely haired and terminating in a tuff. Well-known species are _P. penicillata_, _P. xanthopus_ and _P. lateralis_. The few species of nail-tailed wallabies, _Onychogale_, which are confined to the Australian mainland, take their name from the presence of a horny spur at the end of the tail, and are further distinguished by the hairy muzzle. _O. unguifer_, _O. fraenatus_ and _O. lunatus_ represent the group. The hare-wallabies, such as _Lagorchestes leporoides_, _L. hirsutus_ and _L. consepicillatus_, constitute a genus with the same distribution as the last, and likewise with a hairy muzzle, but with a rather short, evenly furred tail, devoid of a spur. They are great leapers and swift runners, mostly frequenting open stony plains.
More distinct is the Papuan genus _Dorcopsis_, as typified by _D. muelleri_, although it is to some extent connected with _Macropus_ by _D. macleyi_. The muzzle is naked, the fur on the nape of the neck directed more or less completely forward, and the hind-limbs are less disproportionately elongated. Perhaps, however, the most distinctive feature of the genus is the great fore-and-aft length of the penultimate premolar in both jaws. Other species are _D. rufolateralis_ and _D. aurantiacus_. In the tree-kangaroos, which include the Papuan _Dendrolagus inustus_, _D. ursinus_, _D. dorianus_, _D. benetianus_ and _D. maximus_, and the North Queensland _D. lumholtzi_, the reduction in the length of the hind-limbs is carried to a still further degree, so that the proportions of the fore and hind limbs are almost normal. The genus agrees with _Dorcopsis_ in the direction of the hair on the neck, but the muzzle is only partially hairy, and the elongation of the penultimate premolar is less. These kangaroos are largely arboreal in their habits, but they descend to the ground to feed. Lastly, we have the banded wallaby, _Lagostrophus fasciatus_, of Western Australia, a small species characterized by its naked muzzle, the presence of long bristles on the hind-feet which conceal the claws, and also of dark transverse bands on the lower part of the back. The skull has a remarkably narrow and pointed muzzle and much inflated auditory bullae; while the two halves of the lower jaw are firmly welded together at their junction, thus effectually preventing the scissor-like action of the lower incisors distinctive of _Macropus_ and its immediate allies. As regards the teeth, canines are wanting, and the penultimate upper premolar is short, from before backwards, with a distinct ledge on the inner side.
In the rat-kangaroos, or kangaroo-rats, as they are called in Australia, constituting the sub-family _Potoroinae_, the first upper incisor is narrow, curved, and much exceeds the others in length; the upper canines are persistent, flattened, blunt and slightly curved, and the first two premolars of both jaws have large, simple, compressed crowns, with a nearly straight or slightly concave free cutting-edge, and both outer and inner surfaces usually marked by a series of parallel, vertical grooves and ridges. Molars with quadrate crowns and a blunt conical cusp at each corner, the last notably smaller than the rest, sometimes rudimentary or absent. Forefeet narrow; the three middle toes considerably exceeding the first and fifth in length and their claws long, compressed and but slightly curved. Hind-feet as in _Macropus_. Tail long, and sometimes partially prehensile when it is used for carrying bundles of grass with which these animals build their nests. The group is confined to Australia and Tasmania, and all the species are relatively small.
In the members of the typical genus _Potorous_ (formerly known as _Hypsiprymnus_) the head is long and slender, with the auditory bullae somewhat swollen; while the ridges on the first two premolars are few and perpendicular, and there are large vacuities on the palate. The tarsus is short and the muzzle naked. The genus includes _P. tridactylus_, _P. gilberti_ and _P. platyops_. In _Bettongia_, on the other hand, the head is shorter and wider, with smaller and more rounded ears, and more swollen auditory bullae. The ridges on the first two premolars are also more numerous and somewhat oblique (fig. 4); the tarsus is long and the tail is prehensile. The species include _B. lesueuiri_, _B. gaimardi_ and _B. cuniculus_. The South Australian _Caloprymnus campestris_ represents a genus near akin to the last, but with the edge of the hairy border of the bare muzzle less emarginate in the middle line, still more swollen auditory bullae, very large and posterially expanded nasals and longer vacuities on the palate. The list is completed by _Aepyprymnus rufescens_, which differs from all the others by the hairy muzzle, and the absence of inflation in the auditory bullae and of vacuities in the palate.
Perhaps, however, the most interesting member of the whole group is the tiny musk-kangaroo (_Hypsiprymnodon moschatus_) of north-east Australia, which alone represents the sub-family _Hypsiprymnodontinae_, characterized by the presence of an opposable first toe on the hind-foot and the outward inclination of the penultimate upper premolar, as well by the small and feeble claws. In all these features the musk-kangaroo connects the _Macropodidae_ with the _Phalangeridae_. The other teeth are like those of the rat-kangaroos. (W. H. F.; R. L.*)
KANGAROO-RAT, a name applied in different parts of the world to two widely different groups of mammals. In Australia it is used to denote the small kangaroo-like marsupials technically known as _Potoroinae_, which zoologists prefer to call rat-kangaroos (see MARSUPIALIA and KANGAROO). In North America it is employed for certain small jumping rat-like rodents nearly allied to the pocket-gophers and belonging to the family _Geomyidae_. Kangaroo-rats in this latter series are represented by three North American genera, of which _Dipodomys phillipsi_, _Cricetodipus agilis_ and _Microdipodops megacephalus_ may respectively be taken as examples. Resembling pocket-gophers in the possession of cheek-pouches, kangaroo-rats, together with pocket-mice, are distinguished by their elongated hind-limbs and tails, large eyes, well-developed ears and general jerboa-like appearance and habits. The upper incisor teeth are also relatively narrower, and there are important differences in the skull. The cheek-teeth are rootless in kangaroo-rats, but they develop roots in the pocket-mice. The former inhabit open, sandy districts, where they burrow beneath rocks or stones, and hop about like jerboas; their food consisting of grasses and other plants.
KANGAVAR, a small district of Persia, situated between Hamadan and Kermanshah, and, being held in fief by the family of a deceased court official, forming a separate government. The district is very fertile and contains 30 villages. Its revenues amount to about L500 per annum, and its chief place is the large village of Kangavar, which has a population of about 2500 and is 47 m. from Hamadan on the high road to Kermanshah.
KANGRA, a town and district of British India, in the Jullundur division of the Punjab. The town, sometimes called Nagarkot, is situated 2409 ft. above the sea. Pop. (1901), 4746. The Katoch rajas had a stronghold here, with a fort and rich temples. Mahmud of Ghazni took the fort in 1009 and from one of the temples carried off a vast treasure. In 1360 Kangra was again plundered, by Feroz Shah. The temple of Devi Bajreshri was one of the oldest and wealthiest in northern India. It was destroyed, together with the fort and the town, by an earthquake on the 4th of April 1905, when 1339 lives were lost in this place alone, and about 20,000 elsewhere. In 1855 the headquarters of the district were removed to the sanitarium of Dharmsala.
The district of Kangra extends from the Jullundur Doab far into the southern ranges of the Himalaya. Besides some Rajput states, annexed after the Sikh wars, it includes Lahul, Spiti and Kulu, which are essentially Tibetan. The Beas is the only important river. Area, 9978 sq. m., of which Kangra proper has only 2725. Pop. (1901), 768,124; average density 77 persons per sq. m., but with only one person per sq. m. in Spiti. Tea cultivation was introduced into Kangra about 1850. The Palampur fair, established by government with a view to fostering commerce with central Asia, attracts a small concourse of Yarkandi merchants. The Lahulis carry on an enterprising trade with Ladakh and countries beyond the frontier, by means of pack sheep and goats. Rice, tea, potatoes, opium, spices, wool and honey are the chief exports.
See _Kangra District Gazetteer_ (Lahore, 1906).
KANISHKA, king of Kabul, Kashmir, and north-western India in the 2nd century A.D., was a Tatar of the Kushan tribe, one of the five into which the Yue-chi Tatars were divided. His dominions extended as far down into India as Madura, and probably as far to the north-west as Bokhara. Private inscriptions found in the Punjab and Sind, in the Yusufzai district and at Madura, and referred by European scholars to his reign, are dated in the years five to twenty-eight of an unknown era. It is the references by Chinese historians to the Yue-chi tribes before their incursion into India, together with conclusions drawn from the history of art and literature in his reign, that render the date given the most probable. Kanishka's predecessors on the throne were Pagans; but shortly after his accession he professed himself, probably from political reasons, a Buddhist. He spent vast sums in the construction of Buddhist monuments; and under his auspices the fourth Buddhist council, the council of Jalandhara (Jullunder) was convened under the presidency of Vasumitra. At this council three treatises, commentaries on the Canon, one on each of the three baskets into which it is divided, were composed. King Kanishka had these treatises, when completed and revised by Asvaghosha, written out on copper plates, and enclosed the latter in stone boxes, which he placed in a memorial mound. For some centuries afterwards these works survived in India; but they exist now only in Chinese translations or adaptations. We are not told in what language they were written. It was probably Sanskrit (not Pali, the language of the Canon)--just as in Europe we have works of exegetical commentary composed, in Latin, on the basis of the Testament and Septuagint in Greek. This change of the language used as a medium of literary intercourse was partly the cause, partly the effect, of a complete revulsion in the intellectual life of India. The reign of Kanishka was certainly the turning-point in this remarkable change. It has been suggested with great plausibility, that the wide extent of his domains facilitated the incursion into India of Western modes of thought; and thus led in the first place to the corruption and gradual decline of Buddhism, and secondly to the gradual rise of Hinduism. Only the publication of the books written at the time will enable us to say whether this hypothesis--for at present it is nothing more--is really a sufficient explanation of the very important results of his reign. In any case it was a migration of nomad hordes in Central Asia that led, in Europe, to the downfall of the Roman civilization; and then, through the conversion of the invaders, to medieval conditions of life and thought. It was the very same migration of nomad hordes that led, in India, to the downfall of the Buddhist civilization; and subsequently, after the conversion of the Saka and Tatar invaders, to medieval Hinduism. As India was nearer to the starting-point of the migration, its results were felt there somewhat sooner.
AUTHORITIES.--Vincent A. Smith, _The Early History of India_ (Oxford, 1908); "The Kushan Period of Indian History," in _J.R.A.S._ (1903); M. Boyer, "L'Epoque de Kaniska," in _Journal Asiatique_ (1900); T. Watters, _On Yuan Chwang_ (London, 1904, 1905); J. Takakusu, "The Sarvastivadin Abhidharma Books," in _Jour. of the Pali Text Soc._ (1905), esp. pp. 118-130; Rhys Davids, _Buddhist India_ (London, 1903), ch. xvi., "Kanishka." (T. W. R. D.)
KANKAKEE, a city and the county-seat of Kankakee county, Illinois, U.S.A., in the N.E. part of the state, on the Kankakee river, 56 m S. of Chicago. Pop. (1900), 13,595, of whom 3346 were foreign-born; (1910 census), 13,986. Kankakee is served by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis, the Illinois Central, and the Chicago, Indiana & Southern (controlled by the New York Central) railways. It is the seat of the Eastern Hospital for the Insane (1879) a state institution; St Joseph's Seminary (Roman Catholic) and a Conservatory of Music. At Bourbonnais Grove, 3 m. N. of Kankakee is St Viateur's College (founded 1868), a well-known Roman Catholic divinity school, and Notre Dame Academy, another Catholic institution. The city has a public library and four large parks; in Court House Square there is a monument erected by popular subscription in honour of the soldiers from Kankakee county who died in the Civil War. There are rock quarries here, and the city manufactures sewing machines, musical instruments, especially pianos, foundry and machine shop products, agricultural implements and furniture. The total value of the factory product in 1905 was $2,089,143, an increase of 222% since 1900. Kankakee is also a shipping point for agricultural products. It was first settled in 1832; was platted as the town of Bourbonnais in 1853, when Kankakee county was first organized; was chartered as the city of Kankakee in 1855, and was re-chartered in 1892.
KANKER, a feudatory state of India, within the Central Provinces; area, 1429 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 103,536; estimated revenue, L10,000. It is a hilly tract, containing the headwaters of the Mahanadi. The extensive forests have recently been made profitable by the opening of a branch railway. The residence of the raja, who is of an old Rajput family though ruling over Gonds, is at Kanker (pop. 3906).
KANO, one of the most important provinces of the British protectorate of Northern Nigeria. It includes the ancient emirates of Kano, Katsena, Daura and Kazaure, and covers an area of about 31,000 sq. m. The sub-province of Katagum was incorporated with Kano in 1905, and is included within this area. The population of the double province is estimated at about 2,250,000.
Kano was one of the original seven Hausa states. Written annals carry the record of its kings back to about A.D. 900. Legendary history goes back much further. It was conquered by the Songhoi (Songhay) in the early part of the 16th century, and more than once appears to have made at least partial submission to Bornu. Mahommedanism was introduced at a period which, according to the system adopted for the dating of the annals, must be placed either in the 12th or the 14th century. The Hausa system of government and taxation was adopted by the Fula when in the early part of the 19th century that Mahommedan people overran the Hausa states. It has been erroneously stated that the Fula imposed Mahommedanism on the Hausa states. The fact that they adopted the existing system of government and taxation, which are based upon Koranic law, would in itself be sufficient proof that this was not the case. But the annals of Kano distinctly record the introduction and describe the development of Mahommedanism at an early period of local history.
The capital is the city of Kano, situated in 12 deg. N. and 8 deg. 20' E., 220 m. S.S.E. of Sokoto and 500 N.E. of Lagos. It is built on an open plain, and is encompassed by a wall 11 m. in perimeter and pierced by thirteen gates. The wall is from 30 to 50 ft. high and about 40 ft. thick at the base. Round the wall is a deep double ditch, a dwarf wall running along its centre. The gates are simply cow-hide, but are set in massive entrance towers. Only about a third of the area (7(1/4) sq. m.) enclosed by the walls is inhabited nor was the whole space ever occupied by buildings, the intention of the founders of the city being to wall in ground sufficient to grow food for the inhabitants during a siege. The arable land within the city is mainly on the west and north; only to the south-east do the houses come right to the walls. Within the walls are two steep hills, one, Dala, about 120 ft. high being the most ancient quarter of the town. Dala lies north-west. To its east is a great pond, the Jakara, 1(1/2) m. long, and by its north-east shore is the market of the Arab merchants. Here also was the slave market. The palace of the emir, in front of which is a large open space, is in the Fula quarter in the south-east of the city. The palace consists of a number of buildings covering 33 acres and surrounded by a wall 20 to 30 ft. high. The architecture of the city is not without merit. The houses are built of clay with (generally) flat roofs impervious to fire. Traces of Moorish influence are evident and the horse-shoe arch is common. The audience hall of the emir's palace--25 ft. sq. and 18 ft. high--is decorated with designs in black, white, green and yellow, the yellow designs (formed of micaceous sand) glistening like gold. The dome-shaped roof is supported by twenty arches.
The city is divided into fourteen quarters, each presided over by a headman, and inhabited by separate sections of the community. It is probably the greatest commercial city in the central Sudan. Other towns, like Zaria, may do as much trade, but Kano is pre-eminent as a manufacturing centre. The chief industry is the weaving of cloth from native grown cotton. Leather goods of all kinds are also manufactured, and from Kano come most of the "morocco leather" goods on the European markets. Dyeing is another large trade, as is the preparation of indigo. Of traders there are four distinct classes. They are: (1) Arabs from Tripoli, who export ostrich feathers, skins and ivory, and bring in burnouses, scents, sweets, tea, sugar, &c.; (2) Salaga merchants who import kola nuts from the hinterland of the Guinea Coast, taking in exchange cloth and live stock and leather and other goods; (3) the Asbenawa traders, who come from the oases of Asben or Air with camels laden with salt and "potash" (i.e. sodium carbonates), and with herds of cattle and sheep, receiving in return cotton and hardware and kolas; (4) the Hausa merchants. This last class trades with the other three and despatches caravans to Illorin and other places, where the Kano goods, the "potash" and other merchandise are exchanged for kolas and European goods. The "potash" finds a ready sale among the Yorubas, being largely used for cooking purposes. In Kano itself is a great market for livestock: camels, horses, oxen, asses and goats being on sale.
Besides Hausa, who represent the indigenous population, there are large colonies of Kanuri (from Bornu) and Nupians in Kano. The Fula form the aristocratic class. The population is said to amount to 100,000. About a mile and a half east of Kano is Nassarawa, formerly the emir's suburban residence, but since 1902 the British Residency and barracks.